Mickel D. Garrigus
Profile
Age: 24
From: Elma, Wash.
Assigned to the 543rd Military Police Company, 91st Police Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.
Incident: Army Sgt. Mickel D. Garrigus died Jan. 27 of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat patrol in Taji, Iraq.
Died: January 27, 2007
Army sergeant buried at Arlington National Cemetery
By Diana Marrero
Gannett News Service
ARLINGTON, Va. — Natasha Garrigus struggled to maintain her composure at her husband’s funeral Feb. 12 while she balanced her 1-year-old son in one arm and an American flag in the other.
The flag, folded into a perfect triangle, was presented to the 22-year-old widow by Army Brig. Gen. Rodney Johnson during the funeral for Army Sgt. Mickel David Garrigus at Arlington National Cemetery.
“He honored the flag,” said Lt. Col. James D. Gray, the Army chaplain who conducted the service. “Now the flag honors him.”
Garrigus, 24, died Jan. 27 in Taji, Iraq, after a roadside bomb blew up near his Humvee during combat patrol. Garrigus, whose wife and son now live in Indian Hills, Nev., was a military police officer based in Fort Drum, N.Y.
During the service, Gray said Garrigus was a devoted Christian who “highlighted the...